Memphis contract talks with city unions center around 2011 pay cuts

City labor talks tackle restoring 4.6 percent pay cut

March 21, 2013 — (center) Chad Johnson, representative for the AFSCME, conducts labor negotiations with (left) Naomi Earp, labor relations manager and (right) Don Seago, labor relations coordinator with the city of Memphis at the Stiles Treatment Plant. A pay cut the city of Memphis imposed two years ago is among the issues haunting negotiations between the city and unions representing its workers. (Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

March 21, 2013 — Don Seago, labor relations coordinator with the city of Memphis conducts labor negotiations with members of AFSCME at the Stiles Treatment Plant. A pay cut the city of Memphis imposed two years ago is among the issues haunting negotiations between the city and unions representing its workers. (Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

In a ruling earlier this week, Judge Samuel "Hardy" Mays declined to dismiss a federal lawsuit against the city of Memphis filed in July 2011 by nearly a dozen unions over a 4.6 percent pay cut for city workers. Unions contend that the city violated an impasse process for settling deadlocked labor negotiations put in place by a city charter amendment following a 1978 strike by police officers and firefighters.

In an order filed Tuesday, the judge:

Dismissed the unions' claim that the city violated federal First Amendment rights to petition the government (City Council) for a redress of grievances.

Dismissed the unions' attempt to sue Mayor A C Wharton as an individual.

Allowed to go forward the unions' claim that federal 14th Amendment "due process of law" rights may have been violated.

Disagreed with the city's claim that state law forbids employees and unions from engaging in collective bargaining. Under the city's "Home Rule" charter, the 1978 charter amendment permits collective bargaining between the city and its employees.

From opposite sides of a rectangle formed by tables, city of Memphis and AFSCME union representatives maintained a brisk, civil air during negotiations over grievance procedures last week.

But that was the easy part, compared with the major economic issues on the table this week as city officials negotiate with seven labor unions representing 80 percent of the city government's workforce of about 6,850 employees.

Complicating matters, federal Judge Samuel "Hardy" Mays on Tuesday declined to dismiss a lawsuit brought by city unions in 2011 over a 4.6 percent pay cut.

The centerpiece for the bargaining tables now is that 4.6 percent pay cut — 5 percent for those making $85,000 or more — that city workers have lived with since the 2011 budget year.

Restoring half of the 4.6 percent is what the current draft of Mayor A C Wharton's next city budget would pay for, said Chief Administrative Officer George Little. The under-construction city budget for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1, earmarks $8 million for raises, Little said. It would take about $16 million to restore workers' base pay to its 2011 level.

He has challenged each union to find savings that would fund the other half of the 4.6 percent for their workers. And "it's been kind of a moot point" to talk about pay increases beyond restoring the pay reduction, Little said.

He said there's also a fly in the ointment: To balance the budget with even half of the pay cut restored, the city property tax rate of $3.11 would have to stay the same.

The rate includes 10 cents for education, no longer required with the merger of later this year of Memphis and suburban schools. That would, the Wharton administration will propose, be continued and used to pay debt service, Little said.

Restoring half of the pay cut could come as a 2.3 percent increase for the full budget year, or perhaps more preferably, a 4.6 percent increase in January, Little said. The January plan would raise base pay back to its 2011 level and offset other health insurance cost increases employees are apt to face, he said.

Thomas Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, said his union began looking for ways to save. Malone said Wednesday that the union had not yet received an official wage proposal from the city.

"We're trying to see what we can do to get our people's 4.6 restored," Malone said.

At American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 1733, Assistant Director Gail Tyree said union officials thought the 4.6 cut would be restored and intended to leave the number crunching to city officials.

"This is just not a good time, being the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, for us being in the national spotlight, to tell people we can't give it back and that the weight of balancing this budget will fall on the workers," Tyree said.

The Memphis Police Association is questioning the city's support for public safety and its spending priorities with a "Wake Up, Memphis" media campaign including television spots and its website, www.memphispoliceassociation.org.

Monday is the scheduled deadline for negotiations, which have included other issues such as handling high amounts of sick leave earned by employees near retirement and folding five separate "memorandums of understanding" covering different groups of AFSCME workers into one master agreement.

If city and union negotiators don't reach agreement, an "impasse ordinance" first adopted after police and firefighters went on strike in 1978 calls on the City Council to choose between the unions' or the mayor's final packages.

However, following the federal lawsuit filed by city unions challenging the 4.6 pay cut, council member Shea Flinn earlier this month proposed clarifying the impasse ordinance. A council committee voted to study and table the proposal.

The council's attorney, Allan Wade, at a March 5 council meeting said that only the City Council, through its budget power, has the discretion to restore or not to restore the pay cut.

"Our position," Little said, "has been that we can't promise any more that we have in the budget, and at the end of the day, council makes that decision."

Representing Memphis city workers

Labor unions represent 5,550 city of Memphis workers, or 80 percent of the total city workforce of about 6,850 employees.

The seven unions or associations currently involved in negotiations with the city are: